Exploring Creation through General Science
ON YOUR OWN QUESTIONS Modules 13-16
13.1In which part of the digestive process are your teeth a major participant: physical digestion or chemical digestion?
13.2 Name the parts of the digestive system through which food never really passes.
13.3Blood vessels run all around the organs of the body, supplying nutrients and oxygen to the cells of the organs as well as picking up the cells’ waste products. One organ of the digestive system, however, has blood vessels that pick up nutrients in order to distribute them throughout the body. Which organ has these blood vessels?
13.4Although many animals have teeth, they don’t necessarily have all of the teeth that humans have. For example, there are certain animals which do not have canine teeth. Would you expect carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores to lack canine teeth?
13.5Why do you cough when you inhale smoke?
13.6Where in the digestive tract does most of the absorption of nutrients occur?
13.7Although there are bacteria in the small intestine and the large intestine, there are essentially none in your stomach? Why?
13.8Some people, because of certain problems, must have their gall bladder removed. If this happens to a person, he or she is sometimes put on a special diet. What macronutrient must be reduced in the diet?
13.9Suppose your pancreas could no longer make sodium bicarbonate. You would no longer be able to digest most of your food. Why?
13.10 Certain nutritional companies sell pills with amino acids in them. Sometimes, they are called vitamin pills. Why is that name wrong?
14.1Blood is flowing through a vein in the leg. Is it flowing up or down the leg?
14.2Fill in the blank below with arteries, veins, or capillaries:
Wherever you find living tissue cells in the body, you will find ______very near.
14.3When the left atrium is mostly empty, is the right atrium mostly full or mostly empty? What about the right ventricle?
14.4The heart of a certain fully-grown animal has deoxygenated blood and oxygenated blood mixed together inside the heart. Is the animal endothermic or ectothermic?
14.5Sickle cell anemia is a genetic condition which causes the body to produce an altered form of the protein hemoglobin. This affects the shape of one of the types of blood cells, causing them to have a difficult time passing through the blood vessels. This leads to “logjams” in the blood, which can have severe consequences. Which type of blood cell is affected by sickle-cell anemia?
14.6There is a rare problem during the birth of some babies in which the baby’s blood platelets are destroyed by an inconsistency between the baby’s blood and the mother’s blood. When this happens, the baby can die from even the slightest injury. Why?
14.7Which would be more efficient in terms of getting oxygen into the blood: a lung with lots of little alveoli or a lung with fewer, larger alveoli?
14.8Bronchitis is a breathing disorder which plagues many people. Based on the name, what part of the lungs is affected by bronchitis.
14.9When a person cannot breathe due to an obstruction in the nasal and mouth cavities or the pharynx, a surgical procedure called a “tracheotomy” is performed. In this procedure, an opening is cut through the neck and into the trachea. At that point, the person breathes through the hole in the trachea. People who have tracheotomies cannot speak unless they block that hole. Why?
14.10There are certain plants (called “bryophytes”) that do not have xylem and phloem. Compared to plants that do have them, would you expect bryophytes to be larger or smaller? Why?
15.1A chemist hands you two vials of a liquid. The chemist says that the liquids are identical in every way. However, the first vial contains lymph while the second vial does not. From where was the fluid in the first vial taken? From where was the fluid in the second vial taken?
15.2The spleen can be removed from a sick person without killing him or her. Sometimes this is necessary. If this happens to a person, what can you predict about the person’s ability to fight off disease and infection?
15.3A person’s left axillary lymph nodes are swollen. Looking at Figure 15.1, where (most likely) is the person infected?
15.4If a pathogen cannot be destroyed by antibodies, what other defenses can the lymph nodes use against it?
15.5Which carries more lymph: an afferent lymph vessel or an efferent lymph vessel?
15.6Suppose a person produces three quarts of urine each day. What can you conclude about the drinking habits of that person?
15.7The bladder is not an essential part of the urinary system, but you should be glad that it is there. Why?
15.8Although most scientists refer to the pituitary gland as the “master endocrine gland,” the hypothalamus could be considered the “master of the master.” Why?
15.9Suppose a person’s thyroid began producing too few hormones and the person gets tired and lethargic. If a doctor determines there are no problems with the thyroid itself, what should the doctor look at next?
16.1An electrical signal is traveling towards the cell body of a neuron. Is it traveling along a dendrite or an axon?
16.2A neuron can stay alive even if it cannot make neurotransmitters. However, it is essentially useless without them. Why?
16.3An unfortunate man is in a car accident and his spinal cord is severed at the waist. Will the man be able to move his arms? What about his legs?
16.4Although the human brain is significantly more complex than the brains of other vertebrates, the basic layout is the same. However, one part of the brain is significantly larger in humans than in any other vertebrates. What part of the brain would you think that is?
16.5Two accident victims are studied. The first has damage to a particular area of the right side of his brain. The second has similar damage to the same general area, but on the left side of his brain. One of the patients has had severe difficulty speaking clearly and understandably since the accident which caused the damage. The other has had no apparent speech problems after the accident. Which one (most likely) is having no speech problems?
16.6Would the blood-brain barrier work without the proteins in between the capillary cells? Why or why not?
16.7When you get cold and your autonomic nervous system increases your heart rate and blood pressure, which division (parasympathetic or sympathetic) is causing the change?
16.8Suppose someone ate food that was way too hot and they severely burned the middle of their tongue. The burn scars up, eliminating most of the living tissue in the center of the tongue. Would the person’s sense of taste be strongly affected? Why or why not?
16.9An air purifying system claims to clean “all of the chemicals” out of the air and leave behind a “pleasant scent” like that after a thunderstorm. What is wrong with this claim?
16.10Which is more relaxing: focusing on a scene far away or focusing on a picture held in your hand? Why?
16.11Suppose a person is born with no cone cells. Will the person be able to see? If so, what will be missing?